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Nebraska Travel Guide

Nebraska is situated in the Great Plains of the American
Midwest, where agriculture is a way of life. The level land of the
east is ideal for farming, while the western area of high dunes and
small, shallow lakes is dotted with ranches. This divide is evident
to some degree in personality as well as in physical terrain. The
hub of Omaha ties one half of Nebraska to the Midwest, while many
in the western half staunchly identify with the more rugged Old
West heritage. Most travellers to Nebraska are probably not after
big-city action. Those who are have only one and a half options:
Omaha, the state's largest city; and the nearby capital of Lincoln.
Famous as the home of financial genius Warren Buffett as well as
really great steaks, Omaha may be a far cultural cry from New York
City, but it has a world-renowned zoo and a buzzing arts and
entertainment district. Lincoln is a small and fairly sleepy state
capital but it is transformed from small-city peace to football-fan
pandemonium with every University of Nebraska Huskers' game.

The true gems of Nebraska lie in its natural beauty to the west
of the commercial centres and underwhelming flatlands. Early each
spring, the Platte River in south-central Nebraska is a stopover in
the massive migration of the sandhill cranes, the largest gathering
of this kind in the world. Watching the ritual dancing of the
cranes as the sun sets over the water is a breath-taking sight.
Next up in the journey west are the Nebraska Sandhills, a remote,
rippling area of grass-covered dunes and isolated ranches.

But it is in the far panhandle region of Nebraska that the
landscape truly becomes remarkable, jutting up into rocky columns,
sheer buttes and pine-covered canyons. This is wilder land, where
skirmishes with Native Americans continued long after the east was
settled, where Crazy Horse, leader of the Lakota, was killed at a
lonely frontier outpost. The geography culminates in Scotts Bluff
and Chimney Rock, unusual limestone formations that tower above the
surrounding land. Both were major landmarks for pioneers on the
Oregon Trail, the wagon roadbed of which is still visible. This is
not the only lasting impression man has left on this landscape,
however. When the thrill of the natural environment wears off,
having come this far west, travellers might as well visit one
extremely odd man-made addition: Carhenge, a life-size replica of
Stonehenge constructed entirely of old cars.

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